A federal judge in California put a temporary stop Thursday to efforts by Stormy Daniels' attorney to depose President Donald Trump and his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen over a $130,000 payout from Cohen to the porn star before the 2016 election.
Judge S. James Otero of the US District Court for the Central District of California denied the motion for an expedited trial and discovery process, saying Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, was "premature" in making the motion because Trump and Essential Consultants LLC, the company established by Cohen to pay Daniels the $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair between her and Trump, have not yet filed a petition to compel arbitration, which they have stated they're going to do.
In his decision, Otero admonished the parties, writing that "instant litigation is not the most important matter on the court's docket." He also vacated a hearing date previously set for April 30.
Avenatti told CNN's Wolf Blitzer later Thursday that he does not view the ruling as a setback and is intent on waiting for Trump and Cohen "to file their motion to compel arbitration" before "immediately (refiling) our motion."
"This does not bode well for the President or Mr. Cohen, and all indications are that when this motion is heard on the merits, we're going to get the discovery and we're going to get the trial we've asked for," Avenatti said.
Avenatti may be right is suggesting that this is not really a setback.
I saw two attorneys talking about this on MSNBC and they said that this deposition is really not something that will become available until Trump's attorneys request arbitration, which they will surely do.
Once it reaches that stage, according to these two attorneys, it is almost a given that Avenatti will get the chance to request discovery and depose Donald Trump.
And according to a recent tweet from Avenatti he agrees with that assessment:
Which kind of makes me think that a smart attorney like Avenatti probably already knew that and is now simply trolling Trump using the legal system.These passages in the Court's order do not bode well for the defendants and suggest that there is a strong likelihood that the Court will ultimately agree with our requests for discovery and a trial. They also destroy David Schwartz's claims that the motion was without merit. pic.twitter.com/D1DmGkku1E— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) March 29, 2018
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